Great Utopian and Dystopian Works of Literature

by Pamela Bedore

12 hours 26 mins

Can literature change our real world society? At its foundation, utopian and dystopian fiction asks a few seemingly simple questions aimed at doing just that. Who are we as a society? Who do we want to be? Who are we afraid we might become? When these questions are framed in the speculative versions of Heaven and Hell on earth, you won't find easy answers, but you will find tremendously insightful and often entertaining perspectives.

Utopian and dystopian writing sits at the crossroads of literature and other important academic disciplines such as philosophy, history, psychology, politics, and sociology. It serves as a useful tool to discuss our present condition and future prospects - to imagine a better tomorrow and warn of dangerous possibilities. To examine the future of mankind through detailed and fascinating stories that highlight and exploit our anxieties in adventurous, thought-provoking, and engaging ways. From Thomas More's foundational text Utopia published in 1516 to the 21st-century phenomenon of The Hunger Games, dive into stories that seek to find the best - and the worst - in humanity, with the hope of better understanding ourselves and the world. Great Utopian and Dystopian Works of Literature delivers 24 illuminating lectures, led by Pamela Bedore, Associate Professor of English at the University of Connecticut, which plunge you into the history and development of utopian ideas and their dystopian counterparts. You'll encounter some of the most powerful and influential texts in this genre as you travel centuries into the past and thousands of years into the future, through worlds that are beautiful, laughable, terrifying, and always thought-provoking.

Genres: Nonfiction, Audiobook, Literature, Dystopia, Writing, History, Books About Books

237 pages, Paperback

First published February 3, 2017

Reviews

[Tomislav · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the DVD and paperback edition of Great Courses #2341, “Great Utopian Dystopian Works of Literature,” by Pamela Bedore. This edition consists of 4 DVDs containing 24 one-hour video lectures, and a 237-page guidebook, and my reading progress was recorded by page number. Unfortunately, it has recently become a Goodreads policy not to recognize this edition, even while recognizing a “13-page” Audible Audio edition. I will just point out that Amazon owns both Goodreads and Audible.

I have previously read a few science courses from Great Courses, and this was my first foray into their liberal arts offerings. I selected the course because I have been reading utopias and dystopias haphazardly for many years, and wanted to understand the historical development of the form. I also was looking for a comprehensive reading list. My process was first to read the subject books of each lecture, before viewing it, so as to fully understand her analysis. By the end, I had read 61 books over a period of over two years, and you can find my reading list at the bottom of my comments here.

I felt that the first half of the lecture series was phenomenally successful. I have passed over many of these works in my haphazard reading, and appreciated her help in understanding their context and chronological relationship with one another. (5 stars)

But in the second half, the lectures disappointed me. She began skipping discussion of the endings, and her presentations became more plot teaser than an analysis. The conclusions of these novels are often the very point of it all! Secondly, she preferentially referenced the movie or television adaptations of novels, over the original book form. My expectations were set by the title of the course that clearly uses the word “literature.” I have read more extensively in the recent decades covered here, and over half were actually welcome re-reads. I felt her selection of novels became skewed rather than representative. As she mentions a few times, she previously taught literature at an all-girls’ high school, and it really shows. Feminist utopias and dystopias were important in the 1970s, but there were others as well. Young adult utopias and dystopias have been important in recent decades, but there are others as well. Even there, her goal seemed mostly to entice future reading. And finally, two entire lectures on Octavia Butler, covering her entire catalog, even works that are clearly not utopian/dystopian? It would have been better to pick just a couple of her novels and dig into them. She could have replaced one of those lectures with one on Kim Stanley Robinson, whose work often has a utopian theme. (3 stars)

You could look up my reading progress entries, if you’d like to see my comments on individual lectures.

My reading list -

1 Utopia: The Perfect Nowhere
“The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”, by Ursula LeGuin, single story from her collection The Wind's Twelve Quarters, extra reading: the rest of the collection

2 Thomas More and Utopian Origins
Utopia, by Thomas More

3 Swift, Voltaire, and Utopian Satire
Gulliver's Travels: Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World., by Jonathan Swift
Candide, by Voltaire

4 American Dreamers: Hawthorne and Alcott
The Blithedale Romance, by Nathaniel Hawthorne
"Transcendental Wild Oats", by Louisa May Alcott, single story located at https://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/eng...

5 Samuel Butler and Utopian Technologies
Erewhon, Samuel Butler

6 Edward Bellamy and Utopian Activism
Looking Backward: 2000-1887, by Edward Bellamy

7 H. G. Wells and Utopian Science Fiction
The Time Machine, by H. G. Wells
A Modern Utopia, by H. G. Wells
extra reading: The Shape of Things to Come, by H. G. Wells
extra reading: Tono-Bungay, by H. G. Wells

8 Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Gendered Utopia
Herland, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

9 Yevgeny Zamyatin and Dystopian Uniformity
We, by Yevgeny Zamyatin

10 Aldous Huxley and Dystopian Pleasure
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley

11 George Orwell and Totalitarian Dystopia
Nineteen Eighty-Four, by George Orwell

12 John Wyndham and Young Adult Dystopia
The Chrysalids, by John Wyndham
extra reading: The Midwich Cuckoos, by John Wyndham
extra reading: The Kraken Wakes, by John Wyndham

13 Philip K. Dick's Dystopian Crime Prevention
"Minority Report", by Philip K. Dick, single story from his collection The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick 4: The Minority Report, extra reading: the rest of the collection
extra reading: Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, by Philip K. Dick
extra reading: The Penultimate Truth, by Philip K. DIck

14 Anthony Burgess, Free Will, and Dystopia
A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
1985, by Anthony Burgess

15 The Feminist Utopian Movement of the 1970s
"Houston, Houston, Do You Read?", by James Tiptree, Jr., single story from her collection Star Songs of an Old Primate, extra reading: the rest of the collection
The Female Man, by Joanna Russ

16 Ursula K. Le Guin and the Ambiguous Utopia
The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Dispossessed, by Ursula K. Le Guin

17 Samuel Delany and the Heterotopia
Trouble on Triton: An Ambiguous Heterotopia, by Samuel Delany

18 Octavia Butler and the Utopian Alien
“Bloodchild”, by Octavia Butler, single story from her collection Bloodchild and Other Stories, extra reading: the rest of the collection
Dawn & Adulthood Rites & Imago (Xenogenesis trilogy), by Octavia Butler

19 Octavia Butler and Utopian Hybridity
Kindred, by Octavia Butler
Wild Seed & Mind of My Mind & Clay's Ark & Patternmaster & Survivor (Patternist series), by Octavia Butler
Fledgling, by Octavia Butler
Parable of the Sower & Parable of the Talents (Earthseed series), by Octavia Butler

20 Margaret Atwood and Environmental Dystopia
The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood
extra reading: The Testaments, by Margaret Atwood.
Oryx and Crake & The Year of the Flood & MaddAddam (MaddAddam trilogy), by Margaret Atwood

21 Suzanne Collins and Dystopian Games
The Hunger Games & Catching Fire & Mockingjay (Hunger Games trilogy), by Suzanne Collins

22 Cyberpunk Dystopia: Doctorow and Anderson
Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow
extra reading: Homeland & Attack Surface, by Cory Doctorow
Feed, by M. T. Anderson

23 Apocalyptic Literature in the 21st Century
The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel
The Walking Dead, Book One, by Robert Kirkman

24 The Future of Utopia and Dystopia
The Giver, by Lois Lowry
extra reading: Gathering Blue & Messenger & Son, by Lois Lowry

[Harryo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haven't been reading a lot recently--I'm supposed to be working on my dissertation, hah!, but my Russel T. Davies-like procrastinatory block is preventing me from doing little more than watching The Leftovers on my iPhone and straightening the files in my filing cabinet. Oh, and shredding, which I love to do. If I'm feeling bad my default is to clear clutter. I'm a gifted declutterer, because I'm ambidextrously also a hoarder in my heart, which allows me to understand both sides of the equation.

What has that to do with this lecture series? Nothing and everything because just like yin needs yang to give it shape so do utopian visions give rise to dystopian visions. I'm a deep believer of intentional community, but the truth is that these always break down because there are always s few who don't do the right thing. In order to safeguard the whole from these inevitable few rules of order must be established. And that's when things get fucked up. I guess what that means is that rules have to be very carefully chosen and enforced--allowing for a more open society to evolve naturally. Except then you get a Trump phenomenon, in which case an immature kleptocratic sociopath like him gets elected to what i consider the most sacred office in the land. I'm still reeling. Also I'm moderating my language because this is a vindictive boy king and I don't want to end up in a hole like Reality Winner. Talk about thought crimes....

So, what makes this course great? The professor is a clear and excited presenter, and she really loves her subject. She covers a lot of ground and a lot of different Western European literature to get to the present (perhaps the only disappointment I have with the course is that she never leaves the European canon. It would have been interesting to see what she had to say about East Asian dystopias.) Of the 50 or so books she discusses I've read all but three, and I can attest these books are for the most part pretty great.

Can't say much more except I learned that utopian and dystopian worlds usually are the same world depending on whose side you are on. Professor Bedore begins with Le Guin's story: "The ones who walk away from Omelas", which I read when I was young. I remember thinking then I would be a walker. This is how things have changed: I'm no longer so sure I would walk away. I mean, I know how much suffering goes on in the world and I'm not doing something every single day to allieviate it, so in essence, I am condoning it. ... Is this age? When body aches and pains make you more willing to put up with moral discomfort as well?

[Marta · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable tour of utopia and dystopia, what makes them different and what makes them similar. We have way much more dystopias than utopias. Utopias concentrate on describing an ideal society, and often lack plot or character development; dystopias tend to flow from the latter. They also have more drama and action - thus more interesting. This actually comes up in Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, where the boring art is the one sacrifice they make in order to have a perfect society.

Pamela Bedore takes us on a tour of speculative fiction from Sir Thomas Moore’s Utopia to The Hunger Games. Her lectures concentrate on the structure and the ideas presented in each work she selects, and how they express the nature of utopia or dystopia. Her main point is that pretty much all of them have a little bit of each other: even the most sunny utopias have a cost, a dark side; and even the darkest dystopias present a sliver of hope, if nothing else than giving a warning so we can avoid it. Thus she posits that overall both genres are hopeful; they both make us think about the choices we make; and pretty much all of them are a bit of both.

We have many of the usual suspects here: Candide, Gulliver's Travels: Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World., which rely on a traveler into a realm to describe it, and use the differences to satirize and critique their own society. Thus utopias (and some dystopias) often include humor or satire (which are not necessarily the same thing). The obvious classics of dystopia are We, Brave New World and 1984, to which she devotes quite a bit, along with H.G Wells.

What surprised me was the extensive discussion of feminism in both utopias and dystopias- later incorporated into and melded with speculative fiction, especially science fiction - which has proved to be a fertile ground for social thought experiments on gender, sex, identity, intersectionality, race, enslavement, queer identities and such. So it happens that this topic leads to two discussions each on Octavia E. Butler and Margaret Atwood, both of whom I adore.

She ends the series with discussing the prevalence of young adult dystopias in recent years. Why are kids drawn to these topics? She points to the many anxieties of teenagers, and the ability of the authors to make the kids think about important topics through these works. I am not sure I am buying that, I am more inclined to say that The Hunger Games series is a damn good page turner.

This was highly enjoyable, and made me add several titles to my mental list: Herland, The Dispossessed, We, and anything by Octavia Butler. Apparently I read way more dystopias than utopias. Go figure. But Bedore points out that there isn’t that much difference, anyway.

[Nannette · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won a free Audible credit from the Audiobook Addicts facebook group. I chose The Great Courses title Great Utopian and Dystopian Works of Literature. I have enjoyed many of the Great Courses before and the topic really appealed to me. Professor Bedore does a fantastic job of presenting the material while keeping it very interesting for the listener. The course has twenty-four lessons totaling over twelve hours.

The course begins with a discussion of what Utopian and Dystopian mean. The next lesson starts the discussion of the first Utopian work by Thomas More. There are several lessons covering the other Utopian writers such as Swift and H. G. Wells. The course then moves on to the Dystopias. It covers much more than Orwell's 1984. The breath of the course is really amazing. It covers The Hunger Games and the Apocalyptic works of this century. The final lesson is on the future of the two genres.

The accompanied course guide, in Adobe pdf format, is amazing. It is over two hundred and forty pages of information. Each lesson has an outline of what is covered and a Suggested Reading section as well as Questions to consider. The Bibliography at the end is incredible. It is going to populate my to-read list for years to come.

Great Utopian and Dystopian Works of Literature was a very enjoyable and educational audiobook. I would recommend it for anyone who reads Utopian or Dystopian genres.

[Rob Hermanowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Teaching Company's Great Courses are always very high quality, and this very recent addition to their large collection of collegiate level courses is no exception. Dr. Pamelor Bedore is a very engaging and extremely well-qualified professor for this material, which covers literature of the last few centuries dealing with both utopian and dystopian settings. Often, both elements are present in the same work, and Bedore's selections give me ideas for many more books to read. Her enthusiastic style is also very fun to listen to, and I hope she is involved with more Great Courses in the near future!

[Jax · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great course on Utopian and Dystopian works, with a lot of Canadian content, which pleases me to no end. Lots of good stuff that I've already read (shout out for 2 chapters on my main lady, Octavia Butler), and stuff that I will look into.

[EruDani · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a marvelous walk through these branches of literature, loved the way it's delivered, and gave me soooo many tools to read (and re-read) several books. I highly recommend it!

[Coyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a decent series overall, and one I'd recommend to anyone interested in the topic. Really, I only have two (mostly minor) criticisms:
1) Several of the books discussed aren't actually either utopias or dystopias. Bedore does a good job of using these books to talk about elements of utopia or dystopia, but that doesn't change the fact that "City of Ember" or most of Ursula K. Le Guin's books aren't dystopias.
2) Bedore ignores a number of works that actually are utopian or dystopian in nature. The cynical part of me suspects that Cordwainer Smith and Walter Miller don't fit into the worldview on display here, but it might be that she thinks they're just not as important as the authors she engages.
As I said, these are minor criticisms by and large. This course is worth your time, particularly if you've got a subscription.

[Kris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED THIS. Will everyone? Nope, not a chance. You know who will? My fellow nerds that miss those REALLY good college level English classes. The ones where the students are super involved in the material, and the professor is insightful without being preachy. The ones where you get excited to see what the next book assigned is because you want to see the connections and common themes and allusions.

Are you this person? 'Cause I am, and this is my JAM.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

More about theory than actual literature. Not what I expected.

[Ty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favorite course. I would have appreciated less emphasis on sexuality in favor of more literary applications.

[Dani · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a writer of utopian and dystopian fiction myself, I just had to get my hands on this the moment I saw it pop up on Great Courses. And I must say — I was not disappointed.

I must admit that I’m quite a slow reader. It’s not that I struggle to keep attentive (although, admittedly, that is also a problem), but that I just don’t have the time to sit down and finish things. However, Great Utopian and Dystopian Works of Literature — or GUDWOL, as I shall henceforth refer to it — changed all of that. I got through it in just under two weeks, which was a record for me.

I won't say much here, but what I will highlight is this: a recurring thread I see in the reviews is that people would have benefitted from reading the books discussed in GUDWOL first. Whilst I don’t altogether disagree, I myself hadn’t read most books in advance, and I don’t feel that my experience was any lessened because of it. In fact, it just made me all the more hungry to read them. Pamela Bedore’s passion for the books she discussed and analysed is infectious, and since reading (or rather, listening to) GUDWOL, I have added several titles to my ‘to-read’ list. Octavia Butler and Ursula K. Le Guin - here I come!

[Jacob O'connor · Rating 4 out of 5]

How do you tell fantasy from reality?

A few years ago I defended fantasy literature. I argued that fantasy in a counter-intuitive way helps us reckon with reality. But what happens when we stop caring about the distinction? When reality is no longer a concern? Then fantasy ceases to be helpful and truly becomes subversive.

These are my thoughts. Pamela Bedore would no doubt disagree, but that's okay. This was a very fun, informative, and elucidating study. I plan to read several of the cited works, and I was pleased by how many I had already read. I'll reflect on this lecture series for a while.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I guess this counts as a book? (I mean, I would have read a printed version of this course bc it sounded interesting, so I’m counting it! 😌)

A very good overview of utopian and dystopian literature from Sir Thomas More’s 16th century Utopia through the 21st century’s The Hunger Fames. Pamela Bedore is a very engaging lecturer. BUT I disliked how often “I’m not going to spoil the ending” was uttered in this course. It really limited the scope of some of the lectures.

[Adele · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have picked up few courses on Audible, one of which was Great Utopian and Dystopian Works of Literature.

I must say I have thoroughly enjoyed the content and narration of Ms Pamela Bedore and her enthusiasm of the subject.

That said, it is worth mentioning that most thorough parts of the book are feminist utopia and YA dystopias. I have added multiple books to my future reading list from it, and learned a good deals, but I wish it examined more subjects.

[Einar Nielsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent lecture series for everyone that loves utopias, dystopias or science fiction. We start with Utopia by Thomas Moore and end with the YA dystopian craze of the 21st century. I was surprised on how much this intersected with lectures, that I have listened to, on science fiction but still, the lecturer presented the works in new ways and gave me a lot to think about. Highly recommend if you are a lit history nerd.

[Zulfiya · Rating 5 out of 5]

I truly enjoyed this course. I read most of the books mentioned in this course, and I do have a genuine interest in speculative fiction; thus, it was easy for me to follow the author. The course is roughly divided into two big fictional domains - utopian fiction and dystopian fiction. Of course, it is not surprising that the dystopian part of the course was much more engaging as darker things tend to fascinate us more.
We all like to play the Devil's advocate and test our darker side and push the boundaries, and this is what the second part allows us to do - explore the dehumanizing effect of societal developments or gender oppression. It also allows us to exercise our inner demons and explore the uncharted land of science going awry.
As I mentioned earlier - a very engaging course that allowed me to revisit the books I read and enjoyed in the past.

[Carol Chapin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started to become more curious about this “genre” (more on this later) of literature because of two happenings. First, YA literature seems to recently have become saturated by dystopian stories (some good, some bad). The “Hunger Games” and “Station 11” come immediately to mind. Secondly, last year I was made aware of, and read, one of the “big three” early dystopian works – “We” by Zamyatin. (The other two, “Brave New World” and “1984”, were already well known to me.)

I usually lump these novels under the umbrella of science fiction. These lectures gave me a better way to define these genres, discussed in detail many novels that I know and love, and provided me with a list of works that I will want to read!

Professor Bedor defines Utopia/Dystopia as a genre based on the concepts formula, marketing, and rhetoric. I liked her discussion of “speculative fiction” as an umbrella for fantasy, science fiction, and utopia/dystopia. Many of the books she discusses in the lectures are one I consider to be science fiction greats.

She starts at the beginning with Thomas More’s “Utopia”. He goes next to Swift and Voltaire - I really must read Candide. She quickly turns to early American writers. I was surprised by the inclusion of Louise May Alcott. I won’t list all the great novels and authors she discusses here - again, considered by me as science fiction – but I absolutely loved reading her analyses. There is a wonderful chapter on “Clockwork Orange”, both the book and the movie. This movie haunted me after I first saw it.

The Bibliography for these lectures is amazing! It provides a one or two sentence synopsis of the work.

Want to read:
“The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” - story, Ursula K. LeGuin
“Candide” – Voltaire
“The Chrysalids” – John Wyndam
“1985” – Anthony Burgess
“Trouble on Titan” – Samuel Delaney
“Little Brother” – Cory Doctorow
“The Feed” – M.T. Anderson

Want to reread!
“The Left Hand of Darkness” – LeGuin
“The Dispossessed” – LeGuin
“Earthseed” – Octavia Butler

[Tammam Aloudat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the teaching company's courses and I have done before a (somewhat) similar one, How Great Science Fiction Works, and liked it a lot as it pointed me to several sci-fi books I enjoyed later.
This one, on utopias and dystopias, was equally good and the delivery was outstanding. I am jealous of Dr. Bdore as her job is to read and think about books of popular literature. I want that!! And she does a good job analysing and presenting on them in a systematic and interesting way.

The course runs from More's Utopia in 1516 to Doctorow nearly five hundred years later and touches on all the trends and changes in the genre introducing some key works (and missing others in my humble opinion, like what is the story of not analysing Neuromancer when talking about cyberpunk?!). I have already read several of the books mentioned but the course has given me a good reading list to work on.

Seriously though, it is so cool that there is real vigorous scholarship on popular literature.

[Lorenzo Barberis Canonico · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of the best courses I’ve ever taken. Seriously! Dr. Bedore’s love for the subject matter is so apparent in all of her lectures: she’s engaging, nuanced, and very funny. I encourage all of you sci-fi fans out there to check it out because studying the characteristics of utopias and dystopias gives us a great framework to understand how we can use fiction to speculate about the future. This course is so mind-expanding (I know I use this word too much) because it surveys so many wild alternative realities people have written about over centuries.

[Rubber Duck Ry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was quite frustrated with this one.

Some of the lectures were really engrossing and did get some good book recommendations, like "We" by Yevgeny Zamyatin.

On the other hand I was quite disappointed. It wasn't a comprehensive look at the genre, it was very much focused on North American and feminist literature. While interesting would have liked a more global and wider take on the genre.

Additionally the heavy-handed intersectional feminist analysis throughout the lectures was
wholly unnecessary and off topic.

[Hank Pharis · Rating 2 out of 5]

(NOTE: I'm stingy with stars. For me 2 stars means a good book or a B. 3 stars means a very good book or a B+. 4 stars means an outstanding book or an A {only about 5% of the books I read merit 4 stars}. 5 stars means an all time favorite or an A+ {Only one of 400 or 500 books rates this!).

The great news is that I can listen to a book a day at work. The bad news is that I can’t keep up with decent reviews. So I’m going to give up for now and just rate them. I hope to come back to some of the most significant things I listen to and read them and then post a review.

[Miranda W. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the professor's engaging narration which was easy to pay attention to (essential for pandemic reading!). I've long been a fan of utopian/dystopian lit and this was a fascinating exploration of some of my favorites and their appeal (especially during a global pandemic), as well as a great introduction to many more works which are now on my reading list. She struck a great balance between theoretical depth and keeping it lay friendly. Highly recommended if you enjoy the genre or just fiction in general!

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great lecture series that explains how close utopias are to being dystopias. Various stories and series are discussed (and some are spoiled), and there is some interesting history given along the way.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

12 Hours and 27 minutes.

A delight! I'm disappointed to see that this is Bedore's only Great Courses lecture series since she is engaging and had me adding books to my queue throughout.

[Jack Hansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent presentation of 24 lectures in a series covering old classic literature and novels of today that are either utopian or dystopian with aspects of utopia or dystopia in the world. Some authors incorporate an utopian society that turns out to be dystopian as in H. G. Wells science fiction novella, Time Machine, published in 1895. Utopia describes a place of seeming perfection, an ideal way of life. Dystopia describes a place or society that experiences suffering and turmoil under a totalitarian government or a post apocalyptic world.

Pamela Bedore teaches more than just the literary works in this category. She informs her audience about the authors and the changes that occur over time; such as, women becoming profoundly proficient in the field of science fiction that men originally dominated. The first science fiction story is said to be Mary Shelley's, Frankenstein, published in 1818. Then, science fiction becomes the fertile genre for these stories.

Bedore points out that reading, in general, is on the decline but young adults reading is on the rise. Young adult dystopia is very popular these days. She also informs that readers as young as eight years-old encounter dystopia in the classroom through the novel, The Giver, 1993, by Lois Lowry, which follows an adolescent boy, Jonas, through an apparent utopian society that is, in reality, a dystopia.

Listening to this series of lectures also enlightens the audience to the ancient wisdom of being accountable for one's actions and not taking something for nothing without paying a price. The moral lessons necessary to exhibit in a dystopian environment to change for the better requires the strength of character that encompass spiritual integrity, especially compassion and a sense of righteousness that can be true justice, fair and equal. But because mankind is not morally perfect and fraught with greed, pride, and envy, utopia and dystopia are alive and well in the world of literature where authors dream of overcoming great odds to live in Paradise, hopefully again, one day.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Utopian and Dystopian Works of Literature
By Pamela Bedore

I wish this course had been available when I was in college! I would have taken it, then taken it again just for fun. The course begins at Thomas More’s Utopia and ends in the present day, covering a number of the most important classic utopias such as More’s work, Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Gilman’s Herland, and Hawthorne’s The Blythesdale Romance, then LeGuin’s The Dispossessed. For dystopia, HG Wells gets lots attention, but the Big Three of Zamyatin, Huxley, and Orwell are center stage. The recent surge in dystopian fiction, especially for young adults, is addressed, as is the future of dystopia and utopia. Bedore’s main thesis is that utopia and dystopia are not opposites, for there is always the shadow of one in the other. As the two genres develop, they blend, question themselves, and are reinvented.

Part of what makes this course so enjoyable is the blend of the literary and the popular. Sure, academic authors such as More, Hawthorne, Gilman, Swift, and Orwell are discussed. But so is Suzanne Collins, author of The Hunger Games. Bedore discusses the appeal of shows such as The Walking Dead and video games like Fallout. Utopia and dystopia are for literary elites. They are meant for the people, and Bedore, a scholar of popular culture as well as literature, addresses how all of these works reflect the beliefs and fears of our society.

Like most Great Courses, this course is approximately a 200-level, survey-type course. More focused than an introductory course, but not so obscure that one has to read advanced scholarship to appreciate the lectures, Great Works of Utopian and Dystopian Literature explores two important genres.

[Carl Palmateer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Critical Literary Analysis

I did not like this course. I would have rated it lower but if (see following information) it is what you like it is good and deserves more than a 3 thus my compromise rating.

I was expecting a discussion of the stories and what the majority turned out to be was a deconstruction/analysis with an exploration of power dynamics, gender roles and the like, especially as they reflect on society today. It was more a a literary analysis course in which the subject matter was of minor import. The method and final result seemed to be the focus.

I did like parts. The intro to the concept of Utopian/Dystopian, literature, it evolution possible future trends. Discovering how most utopias have dystopian elements and vice versa. Got some good ideas for books to read and authors to check.

Other specific points I did not like.
The Professor kept slipping into hero worship of the authors she selected. I want to know the author's name, is the body of work worth exploring or was this a one time only story. I don't care about their lives, loves, history, or philosophy. If the story needs that information then the story needs serious work.

Starting many stories with "I'm not going to give the ending..." Why? Is the ending unimportant to understanding the story? Is so then why not tell us? Is the story so weak it will not suffer more than one reading? Then why is it in something entitled "Great Works"? Was also annoying.

There is some more but you get the idea. The course and I were a serious mismatch. Hopefully for others this is not the case.

[Tracy Rowan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Boy, I enjoyed this course! I began it on the heels of reading a couple of dystopian works by Paolo Bacigalupi, and found that it helped me understand a bit more about the literary antecedents of those stories.  Bedore begins with the father of the genre, Thomas More.  His Utopia defines the genre with its ambiguous presentation of a perfect society that is literally nowhere (Utopia comes from the Greek and means "no place.")

The Utopian literature discussed by Bedore in these lectures are all ambiguous, forcing the readers to try to decide if they are reading earnest prose or satire, or a combination of the two.  And in some of the examples, it's pretty clear that one man's utopia is another's dystopia.

In this series of 24 lectures Bedore covers, among other topics, the earliest Utopian writings of More, Swift, and Voltaire, the American utopians, the birth of utopian Science Fiction, feminist utopian thought of the 1970s, and later the dystopia of The Handmaid's Tale, and the move to young adult dystopian literature. They're all highly informative and interesting, and I found myself adding a number of titles to my wish lists as a result.  This is one of the Great Courses, and well worth what I paid for it over on Audible

[M.W. Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

_Great Utopian and Dystopian Works of Literature_ by Pamela Bedore receives four stars from me. The 24 lectures are informative and engaging.

This is a course for anyone interested in these forms of literature. However, if you are not interested in a slightly academic slant, this might not be for you. I did it because I'm considering doing a Ph.D. in dystopian or post-apocalyptic literature. I thought this would help me get to know more about the studies in this area, and it did. I learned a lot and read several of the books she discusses. At this point, I'm nearly ready to seek a place where I can do that kind of doctorate work.

REgarding Bedore. She's an excellent presenter. Her voice is always clear, and never monotone. She shows her interest and enthusiasm for the genre.

I read something from one other commenter about something Bedore said regarding Katniss from _The Hunger Games_ that I would like to address. Bedore often throughout the series gives a reading or interpretation from differing literary criticism perspectives. She seemed clear to me that she was explaining how Queer theorist and a queer reading would look at the work. Not only did I listen to an interesting perspective, but I learned more about Queer theory as well.